With a qualifying performance like the one Lewis Hamilton accomplished on Saturday and a gift of an Ayrton Senna helmet, the weekend was always going to be his. Leading from flag to flag, Hamilton claimed his 6th win of the Canadian Grand Prix and did a yeoman’s job of pulling back a 25-point deficit to his closest rival, Sebastian Vettel.
Lewis’s teammate, Valtteri Bottas, put in a terrific performance as well after a blazing start getting by Vettel and coming home second giving the Mercedes team a much needed 1, 2 in the constructor’s championship re-taking the lead. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo capitalized on a struggling Ferrari, who had to pit early for a new nose and fresh tires, and came home third for the Austrian team.
Sebastian Vettel did manage to put in a recovery drive from the back of the grid using a two-stop strategy to claim 4th in a damage limitation drive with Force India’s Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon in 5tha nd 6th. The second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen struggled with brake issues late and only managed 7th.
Win
A big win for Lewis Hamilton who was in a zone of his own this weekend equaling Ayrton Senna’s qualifying record of 65 and winning his sixth Canadian Grand Prix. He managed to get on top of his car after a bad Monaco and take the fight to Ferrari.
A win for Valtteri Bottas and Mercedes who brought a new power unit upgrade and it certainly worked giving them a 1, 2 finish as well as points for its customer teams. Valtteri had a terrific start ensuring a second place and did a great job of securing the podium and maximizing the points for the team.
A win for Daniel Ricciardo who held off both Force India’s to take the final step on the podium for a team that actually had little business being there on pace, that was a big win for the team.
A huge win for Esteban Ocon who made the best new Mercedes power unit and a cracking strategy to finish on the podium which was scuttled by his teammate, Sergio Perez, but he kept a smile on his face and a positive attitude.
A big win for Lance Stroll to claim his first points at his home grand prix and bring home points when his teammate couldn’t due to an accident that collected him on the first lap. The young Canadian has been the target of some fan ire due to his paid way to Formula 1 but scoring points at home may go some way to quelling those criticisms.
Not many folks are talking about it but Nico Hulkenberg’s 8th and points finish is a big win for the team who was down on power.
Fail
A fail for Red Bull’s Max Verstappen who ended his day early with a battery failure while running second and looking very competitive.
A fail for Toro Rosso who managed a dual DNF with Carlos Sainz out on lap one and Daniil Kvyat retired with mechanical issues while running in the points. It’s compounded as Kvyat had a terrific run from the back of the grid and into the points before retiring.
A fail, again, for McLaren Honda who managed to let Fernando Alonso down with a dead engine that will possibly see a penalty for Baku with another engine change.
A fail for Ferrari who were beaten off the line at the start and tried a two-stop strategy to recover but a brake issue for Kimi Raikkonen and a damaged wing for Sebastian Vettel made their weekend a very difficult affair.
WTH
A WTH moment for Force India who tactically set Esteban Ocon up for a potential podium run by pitting him late and with fresher tires, he was keen to take the fight to Red Bull’s Daniel Ricicardo but was denied that opportunity and blocked by his teammate, Perez, each time he tried to get by the Mexican. Sergio was asked several times to consider Ocon’s pace and let him attack Ricciardo but denied his teammate the opportunity. Perez made it clear that he isn’t in F1 to cede positions and play team orders. He’s here to win.
A WTH moment for lap one with Romain Grosjean being squeezed by Carlos Sainz which then spun the Spaniard into Felipe Massa.
A WTH moment for Fernando Alonso who spent the month of May in America and came back to F1 in a new fashion walking up into the grand stands and hanging out with fans while giving them his race gloves. Perhaps Alonso is bringing some Indycar back to F1?
Canadian GP Results:
| Pos | Driver | Car | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1h33m05.153s |
| 2 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 19.783s |
| 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull/Renault | 35.297s |
| 4 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 35.907s |
| 5 | Sergio Perez | Force India/Mercedes | 40.476s |
| 6 | Esteban Ocon | Force India/Mercedes | 40.716s |
| 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 58.632s |
| 8 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1m00.374s |
| 9 | Lance Stroll | Williams/Mercedes | 1 Lap |
| 10 | Romain Grosjean | Haas/Ferrari | 1 Lap |
| 11 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1 Lap |
| 12 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas/Ferrari | 1 Lap |
| 13 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber/Ferrari | 1 Lap |
| 14 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren/Honda | 1 Lap |
| 15 | Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber/Ferrari | 2 Laps |
| 16 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren/Honda | 4 Laps |
| – | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso/Renault | Retirement |
| – | Max Verstappen | Red Bull/Renault | Retirement |
| – | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso/Renault | Collision |
| – | Felipe Massa | Williams/Mercedes | Collision |
Driver Championship:
| Pos | Driver | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | 141 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | 129 |
| 3 | Valtteri Bottas | 93 |
| 4 | Kimi Raikkonen | 73 |
| 5 | Daniel Ricciardo | 67 |
| 6 | Max Verstappen | 45 |
| 7 | Sergio Perez | 44 |
| 8 | Esteban Ocon | 27 |
| 9 | Carlos Sainz | 25 |
| 10 | Felipe Massa | 20 |
| 11 | Nico Hulkenberg | 18 |
| 12 | Romain Grosjean | 10 |
| 13 | Kevin Magnussen | 5 |
| 14 | Pascal Wehrlein | 4 |
| 15 | Daniil Kvyat | 4 |
| 16 | Lance Stroll | 2 |
| 17 | Jolyon Palmer | 0 |
| 18 | Marcus Ericsson | 0 |
| 19 | Fernando Alonso | 0 |
| 20 | Antonio Giovinazzi | 0 |
| 21 | Stoffel Vandoorne | 0 |
Constructor Championship:
| Pos | Constructor | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mercedes | 222 |
| 2 | Ferrari | 214 |
| 3 | Red Bull/Renault | 112 |
| 4 | Force India/Mercedes | 71 |
| 5 | Toro Rosso/Renault | 29 |
| 6 | Williams/Mercedes | 22 |
| 7 | Renault | 18 |
| 8 | Haas/Ferrari | 15 |
| 9 | Sauber/Ferrari | 4 |
| 10 | McLaren/Honda | 0 |
Zero Constructor points for McLaren? Ron Dennis’s evil curse actually working?
Ron Dennis 2014;> “it is mind blowing, the engine a a piece of Jewelry. they are further ahead than expected. the competiveness of the engine is without question”.
Jewelry, that must be that tinkling noise we heard just before Alonso retired :-)
That was definitely a 4 star race. As it turned out, the front of the field was retro 2014-2016 Mercedes dominance, but behind that, it was a real dog fight. The opportunism of Verstappen, Bottas and Ricciardo off the start really proved influential to the way the rest of the race went. Verstappen’s p.u failure robbed us of a fantastic Bottas vs Verstappen scrap, but created the circumstances for Ricciardo to capitalise on a(nother) lack lustre performance by Raikonnen, and for Vettel to need an early stop and a new nose. Vettel’s recovery drive was mesmerising, drive of the race… Read more »
Yes it was a 4 star race, fully agree. but it being “retro 2014-2016 Mercedes dominance?”, Mercedes had no Competition up front, at least one of their cars, as their Competition was eliminated at start of race.
But behind them it was very interesting, I noted that RB’s Renault engine apparently was good enough to keep a Mercedes engine car behind, on a long straight, with DRS. against a car that Mercedes were unable to overtake on the very same straight , with DRS.
That’s a good observation about the Renault power RBR. Thinking about it, the RBR’s have had good top end speed to most of the circuits so far. So maybe their aero package is still more efficient than the Mercedes, Force India and Williams.
JAKO, about “retro Mercedes dominance” good explanation yours.
Great summary. Two things I havent heard much about – first didnt it sound, when magnussen passed vandoorne before the safety car line, like that sneak vandoorne chopped the throttle? I mean its a mclaren, maybe it just wasnt working for a sec, but i think he saw he was about to get passed fair and square and got off the gas to change the timing and make mag early. Not sure whether i admire or disapprove, but clever either way. Also this is the SECOND TIME this season ferrari drove around the whole safety car period then pitted on… Read more »
Verstappen rear glanced Vettel’s front wing endplate, Saints tried intimidating GroRo, the safety car was out.
“We didn’t realized the extent of the damage at safety car speed, there was little apparent problem, telemetry showed the loads on the front wing were normal at those speeds, and the team had looked at stills of TV images, which suggested the damage was relatively light, they could see it cracked, but the problem appeared manageable until we began racing again”.
Vettel was all up for staying out regardless, but was advised it was too dangerous, that total failure was imminent.
Yeah, I heard that explanation, and fine, but remember Alonso dragging his wing around half a lap at Malaysia or wherever then driving past the pits and over his own wing – probably cost him the championship that year – and remember a couple weeks ago Vettel staying out while Hamilton pitted under yellow?slow learners! anyway my problem with that explanation is that it made sense to pit regardless of the wing. He’d got shuffled WAY back on the first lap, it had the potential to be a one stop race maybe, and isn’t a very safety car prone race,… Read more »
If you are right about Vandoorne, WOW! sneaky or not, that would be awesome situational awareness. Great skills Stoffel!
And the Radio 5 live Hamilcast have forgiven Vettel and Ferrari for not detecting the extent of damage to the front wing until Vettel could pick up speed post safety car, so I think we have to accept that it would be a really tough call to say Ferrari ‘shoulda knew’.
I’d quibble with the description ‘sainz squeezed grosjean which spun sainz. Call it what it was sainz whacked grosjean, backed off, and came back and whacked him again thus careening theough the field like the dangerous idiot he’s starting to look like after a couple really stupid assaults on the innocent this year.
Don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Patrick Stewart sounds a little like Eddie Jordan
I think Sainz was distracted by the FBC T-shirt he spotted in the turn 2 grandstand, and as a result wasn’t looking where he was going on the opening lap :)
Who did Grace pick for first out again?
Congratulations are in order to Lewis, for not only receiving that terrific tribute from the Senna family, but also that well managed, and dominating win on Sunday. Hamilton now has joined a pretty exclusive club with his recent win at Canada. Joining Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, and Alan Prost in having won 6 or more times at a single Grand Prix.